Difference between mission and vision, objectives and goals and core competencies

The success of any organization is greatly influenced by their vision and mission statements. The two concepts have for a long time been confused to mean the same thing but in real sense the two are very distinct. These two statements are important guidelines to the company’s route to success. They are used to explain the company’s purpose, objectives and direction.  If these statements are clearly expressed, they are likely to greatly motivate stakeholders in an organization as well as inspire the organizations vision of the future.

In essence, mission statement in an organization defines the organizations primary objective and purpose. The mission statement is always in present tense and always explains why an organization exists. This information is very important to the employees, members of the organization and the outside community. A mission statement sets out a long term road map to the organization. For instance, ASDA mission statement is: ‘to be Britain’s best-value retailer exceeding customer needs always’.

On the other hand, vision statement also defines an organizations purpose but is mainly concerned with goals and aspirations of the organization. The vision stamen unlike the mission statement is timeliness and may remain as long as an organization is existing (Gottschalk, 2005). For instance, the ASDA purpose statement is: ”To make goods and services more affordable for everyone’’.

However, it is important to understand several differences that occur between the vision and mission statements. The table below summarizes differences between vision and mission statement;

 

 

Mission statement	Vision statement
It talks about HOW the organization will get where it wants to be. Defines purpose and primary objectives	It outlines WHERE the organization wants to be in a given time frame. Gives purpose and values of business
Answers the question of ‘’what to do?’’	Answers the question ‘’ where do we am to be?’’
It talks of the present leading to future of the organization.	It talks of the future

In most cases, the vision and mission statement of the organization defines the goals and objectives of the organization. They provide guidelines on how members of the organization are expected to deal with customers and other stakeholders in an organization. Day to day operations and decision making processes in an organization are guided by the mission and vision statements thus defining the purpose of the organization.

The vision and mission statements are also accompanied by core values of the organization. These are key attributes that govern the operations within the organization. ASDA has a series of core competencies that influence decision making and actions taken within the organization. Some of these core competencies and values associated with ASDA are:

• Strive for excellence
• Respect to individual
• Service to customers

All these values have played a great role in making the success of the organization.

Significance of strategic thinking

Strategic thinking is very important in an organization that aims at increasing its profitability and sustainability. This helps in making major decisions that will help in overall development and growth within the organization. ASDA has been operating in a very dynamic and competitive industry and thus making it necessary for the organization adopt growth and development strategy. This will help the company remain competitive and at par with the current marketing positions (Cook, 2012).

Ansoff’s growth matrix has been a major strategic thinking tool that ASDA has adopted in its quest to achieve growth and expand its market share. This is a strategic marketing planning tool that defines a firms marketing strategy. The matrix offers four alternatives through which the organization can realize its development and growth objective. The four alternatives include; market penetration, market development, product development and diversification.

ASDA has adopted market penetration in its attempt to achieve its growth strategy. This is a strategy through which an organization increases market share of existing product.  This is also achieved through intensive promotion of new products through strategies such as bundling, volume discounts, extensive advertising and low pricing. ASDA has been actively involved in extensive TV adverts to advertise their products. The audio visual TV adverts will catch great audience thus increasing number of potential customers. The company also posts advertisement in the company’s website which also enables customers for online shopping. The company will also advertise on billboards and distribution of leaflets which playa great role in market penetration (Haynes & Nunnington, 2010).

Market development is the other alternative for growth strategy as outlined by ansoff’s matrix. This involves developing new markets for existing products. Under this strategy, the firm tries to increase sales through introducing its products in new market. This involves having new target market for the company’s products. ASDA has greatly developed its market by increasing the supermarket chain as well as engaging in online marketing which has increased market share significantly (Gregory, 2010).

Product development involves developing new products for the existing markets. ASDA has been actively involved in product development. The supermarket chain has adopted new clothes, electronics and household items which have increased its market share significantly.

Diversification as the other alternative offered by ansoff’s matrix has been very instrumental in achieving ASDA growth strategy. The company offers variety of products which have increased the company’s market share significantly. The company offers electrical, groceries, clothing, household goods and appliances just to mention a few.

Fig. 1.0. Ansoff’s matrix

Significance of strategic planning

Strategic thinking and planning are very essential factors in success of any organization. Strategic plans can only be adopted after strategic thinking. ASDA has been laying strategic plans to help the company realize its goals and objectives. In order to achieve strategic plan, several strategic planning techniques must be adopted to achieve desired plans.

In order to have a better analysis, we will discuss the BCG growth share matrix as a strategic planning tool as used in ASDA plc. This is a very important tool that helps a company in making major decisions in terms of what the company should keep, sell or invest more in. the tool plots the company’s offerings in a four square matrix  with y and x axis. The y-axis represents the market growth while the x-axis represents the market share.

The ASDA has different strategic business units within which it operates. One of the business categories is the ASDA groceries. This is the department that deals with food chain retail business. The business unit also deals with foods, drinks, health, home items and toiletries.

The other business unit under ASDA business is the ASDA direct. It mainly deals with electrical appliances, toys, furniture, entertainment and travel. ASDA money is the other business nit associated with ASDA. This is the department that deals with finances and insurance. The last business unit is George clothing department in ASDA. This unit is concerned with cloth, shoes, men, women and children fashion outfits.

 

 

 

MARKETSHARE

High                                   Low

ASDA GROCERIES (STARS)	ASDA DIRECT (QUESTION MARKS)
ASDA GEORGE CLOTHING (FAT COWS)	ASDA MONEY (DOGS)

GROWTH SHARE High

 

 

Low

 

 

Fig. 2.0. BCG MATRIX FOR ASDA

Question marks:  these are products that are high in growth but low in market share. It is noteworthy to understand that ASDA direct products are not handled by ASDA but rather by other companies that use ASDA brand name especially in electrical appliances and toys.

Stars: This in BCG growth matrix refers to those products that are high in growth and high in market share. These are the main products offered by ASDA and responsible for increase in market share. The grocery unit in ASDA forms the best performing business unit in the company.

Dogs: these are products that are low in growth and low in markets share. ASDA Money is the business unit representing the dogs in the BCG matrix. The business unit has recorded low growth and market share that deal with insurance, finance and credit cards.

Cash cows:  these are products that are low in growth but high in market share. George clothing is considered as cash cow which deals with cloths and fashions in ASDA. The sales are seasonal and periodical especially during Christmas, Easter and other festive periods.

Significance of bench marking

Bench marking is a very essential management tool. It is a process through which a firm measures its services/products and practices against competitors and other pace setters. It offers the best managerial tool through one can determine the company’s performance and activities and note areas of improvement. The idea behind benchmarking is to assess the internal processes against a proved external standard.

There are three different types of benchmarking as carried out by managers in different organizations. The first type of benchmarking is the strategic benchmarking. This is a kind of benchmarking whereby mangers are interested in identifying the best ways to compete in the market. It is at this process that managers identify wining strategies that have been adopted by successful companies within the industry.

Performance benchmarking is the other class of benchmarking mostly exercised by managers. This kind of benchmarking is concerned with comparing a company’s products and services to those of the competitors. It is interested with quality, feature, prices, and reliability and design just to name a few. Process benchmarking forms the last class of benchmarking. This involves checking other companies with similar activities and identifies the best practices that can be applied to for bettering an organization.

Benchmarking has been very essential as it helps in assessing the management’s willingness to pursue philosophy that embraces change in a proactive rather than a reactive manner. This is because the decision making will be guided by the gathered information. Another reason why benchmarking is important is because it helps establish goals and performance measures that reflect an external/customer focus. It is also important in providing platform for competitive advantage and at the same time promotes team work based on competitive need. This is made possible by analysis of concrete data (Kozami, 2005).

ASDA management has in several occasions been involved in benchmarking activities. The benchmarking exercise was undertaken by premier in order to achieve an audio branding consultancy. ASDA got relevant information to help provide industry leading call centre. This benchmarking against top 50 call centers as well as competitors proved important to service delivery and customer services.

Resource requirements for strategy implementation

Strategies are critical actions taken by a company’s management in order to increase profitability, productivity and efficiency within the firm. The process involves making critical decisions on what products/services to sell, where, when and how to sell the products/services among others.

In order to achieve and implement such strategies, organization requires a lot of resources.  These resources may be in terms of finances, physical, human resources, technological, reputation and organizational. To start with, finances are a great concern in implementing strategies within an organization.  This is because the process of making strategies to their implementation requires a lot of finances. For instance, the organization requires finances to facilitate in research and information gathering which is essential in making strategies. There are several costs such as transport, accommodation, wages and salaries and other miscellaneous expenses.

Human resource forms another important requirement in implementing organizational strategy. This is because human resource will be actively involved in the formulation and implementation of the strategy. The process f acquiring the best personnel to implement the strategy is not an easy task. This is because it requires to have the best qualified people to effectively implement the strategy in an organization. At times organizations may be required to engage in vigorous training and capacity building exercise in order to ensure that the firm has the right personnel for implementing strategy.

The modern world is faced with numerous technological advances which have proved critical in strategy implementation. It is evident that the world is turning to a global village and all organizations must ensure that they are conversant with the current technology. For instance, ASDA had to undergo a benchmarking exercise in order to have a competitive call centre. Implementation of strategy may require certain level of technology and may at times prove difficult to achieve. For instance, maintaining ASDA website and hosting may be a great challenge and the firm must always ensure that the site is in operation to ensure online shopping is a continuous exercise.

Time is a very essential requirement in strategy implementation. This resource should be allocated well in an organized manner. Strategy implementation must be time framed and management must ensure that deadlines are met.

Though there are different resources requirement for strategy implementation, it is important to understand that they vary depending with size, nature and type of business. It is therefore important to understand the business first in order to determine the resource requirements for strategy implementation.

 

 

Targets and timescales

Targets and timescales are very important in assessing and monitoring achievement in a given organization. This is because they help in giving essential information useful in assessing resource allocation choices, monitor implementation progress, evaluate managers’ performance in strategy implementation, monitor environmental changes and provide feedback mechanism.

The monitoring of organizational achievement has over the years been considered as one of the most critical aspects in strategy implementation. This is because it makes the strategy concept to be an ongoing event rather than an isolated event. For instance, ASDA has a huge budget to ensure that its strategies are closely monitored. The company is also very much concerned with its competitors such as Sainsbury. This makes it possible to make informed decisions on strategic planning.

A strategic control system can also be an essential tool in monitoring targets and timescales. The strategic control may be very crucial in providing essential information for informed decision making. The control systems may include financial measures and will also involve looking at market share, quality measures as well as the level of customer satisfaction. ASDA has a strategic control to ensure that customer satisfaction is not compromised.

Targets and timescales must be realistic and achievable. For instance, ASDA has adopted targets and timescales in implementing advertising strategy. The strategic objective o the company is to launch online advertising which is aimed at expanding the company’s market share. This will be a sole obligation of the marketing department within the organization.

 

References

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Cook, S., 2012. Complaint management excellence creating customer loyalty through service recovery. London: Kogan Page.

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Haynes, B., & Nunnington, N., 2010. Corporate real estate asset management strategy and implementation. Kidlington, Oxford: EG Books.

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Meeting stakeholder needs through community involvementAn Asda case study. (n.d.). Retrieved November 6, 2014, from http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/asda/meeting-stakeholder-needs-through-community-involvement/mission-purpose-and-values.html#axzz3IGFy4Ety

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Gregory, A., 2010. Planning and managing public relations campaigns a strategic approach (3rd ed.). London: Kogan Page.

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Sherbini, M. (n.d.). RDA: Strategies for implementation.

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Gottschalk, P., 2005. Strategic knowledge management technology. Hershey PA: Idea Group Pub.

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Kozami, A., 2005. Business policy and strategic management (2nd. ed.). New-Delhi: McGraw-Hill Published.

 

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